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Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School is finally open and gearing up to create leaders out of uptown New York’s inner city youth.

“Great schools and great education make a big difference,” he told the NY Daily News. “Unfortunately, too many people don’t get the opportunity to succeed, no matter how hard they try. This is leveling the playing field here at Capital Prep.”

Combs partnered with educator Dr. Steve Perry, who is behind the successful Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Conn. Capital Preparatory in Harlem, which chose its current student body at random from 1,000 applicants, has about 176 students in sixth and seventh grades for the first year of classes. According to school officials, they want to enroll around 700 students for grades 6-12 by 2021.

The school is five years in the making, so finally opening for the first day of classes was an exciting, highly anticipated milestone. “This is the start of something important,” Diddy told New York’s ABC affiliate.